Rooftop View
by Tuch
Summary: A confrontation between Angel and Lilah about Connor's future.


Rooftop View 1/1  
Summary: A confrontation between Angel and Lilah over Connor's future.   
SPOILERS: Through "Slouching Toward Bethlehem." Takes place a few days after that episode.   
Rating: R (Probably an overreaction, but it does have one naughty word.   
Category: Drama/Angst  
Feedback: I love feedback, even if it's just to say, "You suck."   
  
Lilah watched the boy from the rooftop as he tangled with the three vampires below. The crescent moon hung overhead, and a stiff autumn wind ruffled the long brown hair that fell past her shoulders. She pulled her coat around her body tightly and kept her back to the wind. He wasn't wearing a coat, but he didn't seem to mind the cold. Lilah noted that Connor -- or Stephen, or whatever he was calling himself these days -- wasn't as strong as his vampire parents, but he moved like water over a sheer cliff. He was all fluid movements and long, quick limbs that blocked and kicked like someone with years of life-and-death practice.   
  
How would she win his trust? she thought. He was protecting the seer now, and she wondered if he was getting a little something in return. Either way, it seemed less likely now that she could take the Mrs. Robinson route. He still hated Angel, as far as she could tell, so there was always the "an enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine" card. It shouldn't be too hard, she thought confidently. He'd proven that he was easily manipulated, and if she could play Wesley, she was sure she could play a 16-year-old boy.   
  
"I thought I said I didn't want to see you within 50 feet of my son," said a voice from behind her. Lilah jumped, and immediately chastised herself for getting submerged in her own thoughts.   
  
"Just making sure the little tyke stays safe," Lilah purred. "LA's a big, scary city."  
  
Angel stepped beside her and glanced over the side of the building. Connor had dusted one of the vampires and was working on the other two. He turned to the thoroughly evil lawyer beside him.   
  
"Obviously, thinly veiled threats are beyond you, so I'm going to make myself abundantly clear. Stay the hell away from my son," he threatened.   
  
She chuckled in that smug way that made him want to snap her neck. "Oh, come on Angel. He's not exactly helpless. He did send you to the bottom of the ocean for three months, or have you forgotten?"  
  
"I haven't forgotten anything," Angel said coldly. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave him at the mercy of Wolfram & Hart."  
  
Lilah released a sharp laugh that sounded more like a strangled cough.   
  
"What?" Angel asked, when she got quiet. He was sorry as soon as he asked. It was never wise to show Lilah that you were interested in the words that spewed from her lips.   
  
"It's just interesting that you would use the word 'mercy,'" she elaborated. "I mean, considering you tossed one of your best friends to the curb like a dirty diaper for trying to save your dumb kid."  
  
Angel felt himself slipping into game face, and it was all he could do to keep himself steady.   
  
"Wesley kidnapped Connor," he said tightly. "His actions led to my son being raised in a hell dimension." Angel didn't even know why he was explaining this to her. Why did it matter that she saw his side?  
  
"How many atrocities have you committed in your life, Angelus?" Lilah shot back. She was satisfied by the look of revulsion that clouded his features at the sound of his ancient name. "And you can't even claim noble intentions. Wesley was trying to do the right thing and got his ass handed to him. That's what you get for being a goodie goodie."  
  
"You almost sound as if you care," Angel said. Something flitted across her face, but it passed before he could decipher it.   
  
"I don't," Lilah said, returning the coldness. "Just pointing out that, after all these years, you're still a hypocrite."  
  
Angel turned away to glance again over the side of the building. Connor was now fighting one on one with the last remaining vampire.   
  
"I didn't come here to talk about your boyfriend," Angel said. "I came here to tell you that if you don't leave Connor alone, I'm going to drain you dry and hang your empty corpse in my lobby. Clear?"  
  
Lilah stiffened, but her eyes were defiant. "I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for Linwood. I didn't get where I am today by quaking in my designer heels at every vampire with a god complex."  
  
Angel grabbed her by her collar and hoisted her over the edge of the building. The only thing between Lilah and a painful, messy death was Angel's grip on her black trenchcoat, but he had to give her credit: She barely flinched.   
  
"Oh, come on, Angel, don't you wonder where he fits into all of this? What his role in the game is?"  
  
"My son is not a game piece," he said, enunciating each word carefully.   
  
"We're all game pieces," Lilah shot back, her face flushed from the blood running to her head. "You, me, Connor, Wesley, all of us. Even those stupid, senseless people you're trying to protect, lying in their beds between their cozy sheets, thinking the biggest thing they have to worry about is the drug dealer on the corner. One day the game will be obvious, and I intend to be on the winning side."  
  
Angel lifted her back over the side and let go of her coat. "Nice soliloquy," he commented. "Did you practice that?"  
  
"Only amateurs need practice," she replied, smoothing out her clothes.   
  
Angel looked back over the side of the building, and Lilah followed his gaze. Connor was gone.   
  
"Looks like Broody Junior has left the scene," Lilah said. "That's my cue to get out of here." She turned and walked back into the building, leaving him alone on the rooftop, and he smacked the wall with his open palm. Everything around him was completely out of control -- Connor, Cordy, Wolfram & Hart. Even his own emotions were teetering dangerously close to the edge.   
  
He and Cordy were supposed to profess their undying love for each other that night on the beach. He was supposed to teach Connor how to tie his shoelaces and talk to girls (although, he admitted privately, Gunn might have been a better choice on that score). Now, a big, big bad was coming -- big enough to scare Lorne out of his leisure suit -- and his family was scattered. It would have been nice to have Wesley's steady presence, but too much had happened for Angel to just pop over to his apartment. Besides, for all he knew, that's where Lilah was going now.   
  
Angel, resigned to a sleepless night, turned around -- and bumped right into Connor.   
  
"I didn't hear you," Angel said, eyeing Connor up and down. He had some scratches on his face and a light bruise below his left eye, but he looked relatively unscathed from his fight with the vampires.   
  
"You were distracted," Connor said evenly. "With that lady you were threatening."  
  
"You noticed that, huh?"  
  
"How could I not? You had her dangling over the edge."  
  
Angel decided to change the direction the conversation was taking. How could he explain to Conner what Lilah was and what she stood for?  
  
"How's Cordy?" he asked, instead.   
  
"Safe. Sleeping. I was getting a little stircrazy," Connor explained.   
  
"Look," Angel said, running a hand through his thick, brown hair. "I know you don't think much of me, but Cordelia is a good person, and she means a lot to me. Don't let anything bad happen to her."  
  
Connor looked stunned. "I would never let anything bad happen to her. She's nice."  
  
Angel spent the next few seconds speechless at how utterly innocent Connor could be -- when he wasn't lying through his teeth or committing patricide, of course.   
  
"I mean it, Connor. Wolfram & Hart are more bloodthirsty than any vampire you've ever faced. Don't let your guard down."  
  
"She'll be fine, I promise." He couldn't keep the testiness out of his voice. A few moments of silence passed, and Connor and Angel stared at each other as if in some kind of face off. Angel was the first to break the silence.   
  
"It's not safe for either of you in that attic. Why don't you come back to the hotel?" Angel offered.   
  
"It's not safe at the hotel, either," Connor countered. "Cordelia almost got eaten by one of your demon friends."  
  
Angel started to explain that Lorne's "client" wasn't his friend, but he knew it didn't matter. Connor was too stubborn to believe him.   
  
"OK, fine. Just watch your back."  
  
Connor nodded. He turned, as if to leave, and then stopped and turned back to Angel.   
  
"Please stop following me around," he said. "It's creepy." He turned to leave again, and Angel laughed. Connor would know a thing or two about creepy.   
  
Angel watched his son walk away and tried to convince himself that Cordy being with Connor was a good thing. He was a good fighter who could protect her. Maybe. Besides, if Wolfram & Hart had wanted her dead they would have done it by now. And maybe her presence would make Connor less vulnerable to what Lilah had in store. In time, Cordy would return to the hotel with her memory, and his son would see how badly he'd been mindfucked by Holtz. Angel had to believe it would all work out. Otherwise, Connor and Cordy coming back to him would be just some sick joke courtesy of the Powers That Be.   
  
Angel turned and headed into the building, oblivious to the ever-strengthening wind. Sunrise was less than an hour away, and the best that he could say was that he and the people he loved had survived another night. 


End file.
